Machinery for preparing cards for jacquard-machines.



PATENTED OCT. 3, 1905.

' T. GAPPER. MACHINERY FOR PREPARING CARDS FOR JAOQUAR-D MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED 1320.23. 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 "No. 801,135. PATENTED OGT. 3,1905. T. GAPPER. MACHINERY FOR PREPARING mums FOR JAOQUARD MAOHINES.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.23, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

TTNTTED STATES earner orricn.

MACHINERY FOR PREPARING CARDS FOR \JACQUARD-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1905.

Application filed December 23, 1903. Serial No. 186,370.

To Cb whom it vncty concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS CAPPER, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Machinery for Preparing Cards for Jacquard-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a machine whereby the punching of jacquardcards can be effected under direct control of the card or sheet on which the design is originally drawn, such punching mechanism preferably forming part of a machine which also comprises a preliminary punching device and lacing mechanism, the machine being intended for performing all of the operations necessary for the production of a connected series of jacquard-cards punched in accordance with a design to be reproduced in the loom.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating in diagrammatic form the various elements of a machine constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional plan view of part of the machine, and Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the mechanism whereby the several shafts of the machine are operated in proper relation one to another.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings, 1 represents a framework having bearings for four transverse shafts 2, 3, 4, and 5, the shaft 2 being designed to operate a preliminary punchingmachine, the shaft 3 being designed to operate a card-lacing machine, and the shaft 4 being designed to operate a punching-machine for producing in each card the blanks and openings required for effecting such operation of the warp-threads of the loom as to produce a line of the pattern in the woven fabric. 1 have not in the present instance attempted to show the details of these respective machines, as their special construction forms no part of my invention. It will be sufficient to say that the preliminary punching-machine has a sliding head 6, carrying the necessary punches to produce in the card the lacing and peg holes, said head being operated from an eccentric 7 on the shaft 2 through the medium of a link 8.

The vertically-reciprocating needle-bar of the lacing-machine is shown at 9. This bar is operated from a crank or other device on the shaft 3 through the medium of a link 10, lever 11, and link 12.

The card-punching machine is of the ordinary piano type, having a vertically-reciprocating head 13 with punches 14, which can'be locked to or released from said head by means of keys 15, the punches being locked to the head, so as to perforate a card when said keys are depressed, and being permitted to rise in the head, so as not to punch the card when the keys are not thus depressed.

The cards are conveyed from the preliminary punching-machine to the lacing mechanism and thence to the final punching-machine over a table 16 by means of an endless belt 17, with fingers 18, suitable intermittent movement being imparted to this endless belt by mechanism described hereinafter. The vertically-reciprocating head 13 of said machine is operated by an eccentric 19 at each end of the shaft 4 through the medium of a link 20, and at the same time intermittent feed of the card beneath the punches 14 to the extent of the distance between successive rows of openings in the card is effected by means of a feedblock 21, connected at each end to one of the links 20 by means of a toggle-link 22. The card is centered and held in position after each movement by means of a catch-finger 23,which is carried by a lever 24, operated by a cam 25 on the shaft 5, the latter being driven, as described hereinafter, from the shaft 4 and the cam acting upon a rod 26, connected to the lever 24, so as to provide for a vibration of said lever on each movement of the card.

The keys 15 of the punching-machine are normally projected by springs in the usual manner, and each key is under control of a lever 27 pivoted in the sliding head 13, one arm of this lever bearing upon the outer end of the key 15, and the other arm having a connection 28 with the solenoid or other armature 29 of an electromagnet 30, a series of the electromagnets, one for each lever 27, being mounted in suitable bearings adjacent to the punching-machine.

So as to be laterally movable on the frame 1 of the machine are one or more vertical posts 31, upon which is mounted so as to be vertically adjustable a plate 32, the latter carrying the design-sheet 33, which, together with the plate 32, is composed of a material which is a conductor of electricity, the painting of a design upon this plate being effected in a medium which is a non-conductor of electricity, but otherwise being produced in the same manner as in making a design in ink or color upon an ordinary sheet of design-paper. Upon standards 34 in front of the plate 32 is mounted a transverse bar 35 of non-conducting material, and mounted upon the latter so as to be laterally adjustable thereon are a series of slides 36, each of which is provided with a projecting pin or needle 37, the point of each needle when the machine is properly adjusted bearing against the face of the design-sheet 33, which is mounted upon the plate 32. Each of the slides 36 is connected by a wire 38 to one of the terminals of its respective electromagnet 30, the other terminal of said. magnet being connected to one pole of a battery 39 or other generator of electricity, the other pole of which is connected to the design-sheet 33 either directly or through the medium of the supporting-plate 32, as shown.

The number of needles 37 employed is dependent upon the number of rows of openings to be punched in each card. Thus if there are to be eight rows of openings there will be one needle for each eight lateral spaces or squares on the design-sheet, while if there are to be twelve rows of openings in each card there will be one needle for each twelve lateral spaces or squares on the design-sheet, as many needles being employed as there are openings in a full row from end to end of the card.

In starting the machine the plate 32 is adjusted so as to bring the top or bottom row of spaces or squares of the design-sheet into line with the .row of needles 37, the extreme right-hand needle of the row corresponding with the extreme right-hand square of the top or bottom row of the design and each successive needle of the row contacting with a square which is a certain number removed from this end square of the row, in accordance with the number of rows of openings in the card which is to be produced. The current being established, each of those needles which bears upon blank squares of the designsheet transmit said current to their corresponding electromagnets 30, the latter become energized, attract their armatures, and cause the levers 27. connected to the said armatures, to project the corresponding keys 15, and thus lock certain of the punches 14 to the sliding head 13 and cause the same to punch the card on the descent of said head. Those of the needles 37 which bear upon the painted or non-conducting squares of the design-sheet fail to transmit current to their corresponding electromagnets 30. Hence the keys 15, corresponding to such magnets, will not be projected and the punches cooperating with said keys will not punch the card. After each operation of the reciprocating head 13 the pattern-sheet is shifted laterally to the extent of one square, so as to govern the punching of the next succeeding row, and this lateral shifting of the card after each operation of the punching-machine is continued as many times as there are spaces between successive needles of the row, by which time an entire line of the design will have been covered and a card corresponding to said line of the design will have been completely punched. The design-sheet is then restored to its former lateral position and is raised or lowered to the extent of one line, so as to be in position to govern the punching of a second card, and these operations are repeated indefinitely until all of the cards necessary for the production of the design have been punched.

The provision for the lateral adjustment of the needle-carriages 36 on their supportingbar 35 permits of any desired lateral adjustment of the needles in respect to each other, so as to vary the spaces between the needles to suit any particular number of rows of openings which are to be produced in the card and of course it will be evident that instead of mounting the design-sheet holder so as to be adjustable vertically and laterally the needle-carriage holder may be mounted so as to be thus adjustable, the design-sheet holder being stationary, or the design-sheet holder may have movement in one direction and the needle-carriage holder may have movement in a direction at right angles thereto. It will be evident that in either case the design-sheet effects the complete control of the punches without the intervention of human agency and said design-sheet can be painted the same as an ordinary design-paper, the use of a specially-prepared design-card or a specially-prepared punch-controlling pattern-sheet being unnecessary, no special skill being required for producing the design-sheet and no special training of the designer being necessary in order to enable him to produce the same.

The mechanism whereby the various shafts 2, 3, 4, and 5 and the endless carrier 17 are operated in proper relation to each other is illustrated in Fig. 3, the dotted circles in this figure representing spur wheels of corresponding pitch-line. The shaft at is the primary operating-shaft of the machine, to which continuous rotating movement is imparted, and this shaft has a bevel-wheel 40, which meshes with a corresponding bevel-wheel 41 on the short longitudinal shaft 4:2, having at one end a sliding clutch-collar L3, which can be moved into or out of engagement with a cooperating clutch-collar 44: on a short shaft 45 in line axially with the shaft 42 and provided with a bevel-wheel 46, which meshes with a similar bevel-wheel 47 on the shaft 3. The shaft 4 is also provided with a spur-pinion 48, which meshes with a spur-Wheel 49 on a shaft 50, and the latter has a grooved cam 51, (shown by dotted lines,) which engages an antifriction-roller 52 on a bar 53, the latter being connected to a lever 54:, which is hung to a fixed fulcrum at 55 and engages the sliding clutchcollar L3 of the shaft 42. On the shaft 4 is a spur-wheel 56, which meshes with a corresponding spur-wheel 57 on the shaft 5, and the latter is provided with a grooved cam 58, (shown by dotted lines,) said. cam acting upon an antifriction-roller on a bar 59, which is connected to an arm 60 free to swing on a shaft 61, the latter carrying one of the drums 62, upon which the endless conveyer 17 is mounted. Said drum 62 has at one end a ratchet-wheel 63, which is engaged by a weighted pawl 6 L, hung to the swinging arm 60. The other supporting-drum 65 for the endless conveyer 17 is mounted upon a shaft 66, which has a spurwheel 6'7, meshing with a spur-wheel 68 on a shaft 69, and the latter spur-wheel meshes with a similar spur-wheel 70 on the shaft 2. By reason of this mechanism the shaft 5 is driven uniformly with the shaft at, and for each rotation of said shaft 5 the conveyer 17 is moved forward by reason of the ratchetand-pawl devices 63 64 to an extent equal to the distance between successive rows of openings in a card. The needle-bar 9 of the cardlacing mechanism only has to operate at certain intervals during the forward movement of the cards by the conveyer 17. Hence the shaft 50 rotates at a slower speed than the shaft a, and the cam 51 is so formed that during a certain portion of the rotation of said shaft the clutch e3 will be held out of engagement with the clutch 44. Hence the shafts 45 and 3 will during this time have no movement imparted to them. During the remaining portion of the rotation of the shaft 50, however, the clutch 43 will be moved into engagement with the clutch La and held in such engagement for such a length of time that the shaft 3 will have one complete rotation imparted to it, so as to provide for one operation of the lacing mechanism. Hence said mechanism may be caused to operate once for every three, four, or other number of turns of the shaft at, and hence after every three, four, or other number of successive forward movements of the card-conveyer 17 in accordance with the spacing of the lacing-holes in the cards. The shaft 2. has onerotation for each rotation of the conveyer-supporting drum 65. Hence during the preliminary punching of each card the conveyer 17 will move forwardly to such an extent as to provide upon it a space for the reception of said fresh card.

As the machine is entirely automatic in its action it is evident that a set of cards can be produced by its aid more rapidly and at less cost than when the punching of the cards is controlled by hand or when the punching and lacing of the cards are separate operations produced in separate and non-related machines.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination of a card-punching machine having electromagneticallycontrolled punches, a design-sheet, a support therefor,

a series of contact-needles mounted adjacent to said design-sheet and each connected electrically to one of the punch-controlling magnets, and a support for said needles upon which they are adjustable laterally in respect to each other, substantially as specified.

2. The combination of a card-punching machine,a card-lacing machine,a conveyer whereby the laced cards are carried from the lacingmachine to the punching-machine, and means for operating said lacing-machine-at intervals between which intervals the conveyer effects forward movement of the cards substantially as specified.

3. The combination of a preliminary cardpunching device, a card-lacing machine, a conveyer whereby said punched cards are carried from the punching device to said card-lacing machine, and mechanism whereby a plurality of operations of the lacing-machine are effected for each operation of the preliminary cardpunching device substantially as specified.

f. The combination of a preliminary cardpunching device, a card-lacing machine, a machine for punching the cards in accordance with the requirements of a particular pattern, a conveyer for carrying the cards from the preliminary punching-machine to the lacingmachine, and from the latter to the final punching-machine, and the mechanism whereby,dur ing each operation of the preliminary punching-machine, the card-lacing machine has a plurality of operations with intervening movement of the conveyer,and the final cardpunch ing machine has a still greater number of operations substantially as'specified.

5. The combination of a preliminary cardpunching machine, an intermittently-operating card-lacing machine, a machine for punching the cardsin accordance with the requirements of a particular pattern, an intermittently-operating conveyer for carrying the cards from the preliminary punching-machine to the lacing-machine, and from the latter to the final punching-machine, and the mechanism whereby, during each operation of the preliminary punching-machine, the card-lacing machine has a plurality of operations with v intervening movement of the conveyer, and the final card-punching machine has a still greater number of operations substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS GAPPER.

Witnesses:

HENRY NoAR, J os. H. KLEIN. 

